WiFi question - easiest way to connect non-WiFi hardware to WiFi?

[Nathan Bahn]

On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 1:40 PM, Chris G <cl at isbd.net> wrote:

> While this is not a specifically Ubuntu/Linux question I suspect the
> answers may be subtly different according to the OS one has on computers
> in the same place.
>
> I want to connect a device (a VOIP phone base station) to a WiFi
> service. The WiFi isn't mine, it's a service provided for customers (of
> which I am one) at a marina.  I want to get my VOIP phone to talk to the
> WiFi service.
>
> I *think* a WiFi router/access point should be able to do this but it's
> not really very clear in the Web set-up how this can/should be done. Can
> anyone offer me some help please.
>
> I have the following that I *could* use to connect to the WiFi:-
>
>    Speedtouch 716WL wireless router (quite old)
>    Tenda Wireless-N router model W311R+
>    Solwise 434T 3G router
>
> Of these it feels as if the Tenda W311R+ is the most likely to be able
> to be configured the way I want.  What I want is to configure the router
> to be a WiFi 'client' and provide access to the internet from its
> ethernet LAN connections.
>
>
> --
> Chris Green
>



Chris Green--

I lack the expertise required to provide the level of detail that you may
require; hopefully someone else on this listserve will provide such detail.
I do not know how much you know about configuring routers; you will need
from the marina's management the SSID of their WiFi router and its
password.  For your sake, I hope that that port forwarding is not required
(if it is, then buy some aspirin -- you will need it).

A word of caution:  It is my understanding -- and I freely admit that I
could be wrong about this -- that WiFi is not an ideal medium for VOIP.  In
addition to that (and depending upon the kind of service that the marina is
receiving from its ISP), it may well be that that the inbound (to you) UDP
frames will all come in (thus, allowing you to hear what is being spoken to
you), while the outbound (from you) UDP frames will have a greater chance of
being dropped by the marina's ISP modem -- with the result that that the
person that you are speaking with will be unable to understand what you are
saying.  For whatever it may be worth, I will also say that that in my
experience that unthrottled peer-to-peer programs accessing the same ISP
modem (even if configured as part of an
ADSL<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_Transfer_Mode#ATM_concepts>service[1])
will render VOIP unusable -- although that may be an unwarranted
concern in your circumstance.

Good luck.

[1]In particular, read the third paragraph
here<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_Transfer_Mode#Cells_in_practice>
.

-- 
Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html &
http://www.libreoffice.org/ (Nathan Bahn)
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